Chinese View Research Articles

Chinese Views of Strategic Stability: Implications for U.S.-China Relations

Abstract China's nuclear buildup and intensifying U.S.-China strategic competition have raised concerns about the future of nuclear dynamics between China and the United States. As U.S.-China nuclear competition escalates, understanding Chinese views of strategic stability will be important for managing this dimension of the relationship between these two global powers. During the Cold War, different conceptions of strategic stability influenced how the Soviet Union and the United States constructed their nuclear forces and approached arms control. For the U.S. strategic community, strategic stability consisted of crisis stability and arms race stability. This article analyzes extensive Chinese-language sources and finds that Chinese writings identify four pillars of strategic stability: nuclear mutual vulnerability, the overall state of bilateral relations, the nuclear taboo, and beliefs about the controllability of nuclear escalation. Chinese strategists perceive each of these four pillars as eroding, in part because of U.S. actions. The findings have important implications for understanding China's nuclear force development, nuclear dynamics in East Asia, and U.S.-China relations.

Sublating Humanism

Chinese humanism developed distinctly from European humanist discourses, reflecting unique cultural and philosophical traditions. Analysing these differences can enhance our understanding of both the specific characteristics of Chinese humanism and the diverse potentialities within contemporary global humanist thought. This comparative perspective, enhanced by employing the method of sublation, underscores the planetary relevance of humanism. It demonstrates how diverse cultural perspectives enrich and broaden the scope of global discourse, leading to a more inclusive understanding of humanism worldwide. In this paper I will give a brief historical overview of the origins and development of the formation of ideas which, in China, placed the human being at the centre of culture and the cosmos. But in order to better understand the differences that demarcate Chinese views of humans and their position in the world from European ones, we will first look at how the relationship between people and the communities in which they live is structured in the Chinese tradition. We will then examine the political and philosophical currents shaping Confucian discourse and take a look on the way in which each of them contributes to the Chinese model of humanism. By applying the method of sublation, we intend to investigate how these two systems could complement and enhance each other, thereby helping to establish a foundational framework for a newly proposed transcultural planetary ethics.

A Chinese Dance Therapy Framework.

Genuine Chinese dance therapy is in the ascendant and psychiatric approaches that involve a broad spectrum of principles such as ontological identity, social inclusion and collective support, aestheticisation and expressive catharsis, symbolic exorcism, trance and Buddhist mindfulness. Its models are based on a wealth of Chinese dance genres originating from various dynasties as well as cultural traditions of ethnic minorities. Due to different epistemological backgrounds of Western diagnostic manuals and traditional Chinese views of mental diseases, complex understanding of pathologies and therapeutic dynamics is needed. Therefore, this opinion piece suggests a theoretical framework that encourages interdisciplinary approaches as well as inclusive transcultural psychiatry and related philosophy of science.

Perspectives on suicide among Chinese youth on internet platforms: A thematic analysis based on Comments from Bilibili users

This study employs Reflexive Thematic Analysis to explore youth expressions of suicide on Bilibili, a video platform popular among young audiences. By analyzing comments from three vloggers who died by suicide, the research identified 42 initial codes, leading to 19 themes and seven sub-themes, categorized into three main domains: Perspectives on Suicide, Perspectives on Life, and Perspectives on Death. The “Perspectives on Suicide” domain mainly includes individual assessments, attitudes toward suicide, and attributions of suicide behaviors. “Perspectives on Life” encompasses insights shaped by personal experiences, whereas discussions on death, less frequent, focus on perceptions of death and assumptions about the afterlife. The content reflects a blend of traditional Chinese views and a noticeable shift toward individualism, with the internet playing a significant role in stimulating discussions on suicide and facilitating the expression and exchange of related views. These findings provide critical insights for organizations developing effective suicide prevention strategies.

The Humanistic Process and Spatial Practice of Chinese Zhenshan 鎮山 Worship

The “Zhenshan” 鎮山 (which means a mountain that guards a certain territory) system is based on the traditional Chinese view of nature, which formed and developed through a long period of Confucian humanistic construction. It is the typical representation of China’s nature-oriented worship space, and it has unique spatial order and spatial significance in the world’s sacred mountain worship. The excavation of the spatial characteristics of Zhenshan worship and its network of humanistic meanings is an important part of research that aims to discover the traditional Chinese values of nature, religious views, and Chinese worship space. Based on the analysis of graphic historical materials and a digital chronicle literature review, this paper quantitatively analyzes the historical information of Zhenshan and summarizes the process of change from the birth of the concept of Zhenshan in the Zhou dynasty to the formation of the sacrificial system in the Han dynasty and its gradual localization after the Tang and Song dynasties with an analysis of its spatial pattern and characteristics of worship. The results show that Zhenshan is one of the typical cultural symbols of the transformation of Chinese mountain worship into the unity of government and religion. And it is a typical product of Confucianism, in which the worship of nature in China is integrated into the political system, and its worship space is rooted in the national, regional, and urban spaces at multiple levels. The Zhenshan system, in the course of its dynamic development, has formed two types of worship space: temple sacrificial and metaphorical constraint, constructing a Chinese worship space based on the order of nature, which is distinctly different from the inward-looking religious space of the West and the sacred mountain worship space formed around the religion of the “supreme god”.

The Chinese View on Time – A Reflection on The Concept of Time in Dao/Yijing And Modern Science

This paper investigates the intricate relationship between consciousness, time, and free will action by human agents intermediated between the construct of Heaven and Earth. By conducting a comprehensive literature review across different disciplines, such as Chinese philosophy, and reflecting on time and related ideas in _Yijing_, the time perspective in the arrow of time in modern science, insights into the nature of time and its implications can be gained. While the second law of thermodynamics supports a one-directional time arrow, microscopic fluctuations complicate this understanding. In addition, cultural and historical factors have influenced our understanding of time, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary inquiry. The research challenges causality principles and introduces a Co-Occurrence Time Model, raising questions about the independence of time from an observer. The study emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive approach to understanding human experience and calls for further investigation into these concepts. The paper underscores the need to explore the multifaceted aspects of time, consciousness, and free will to broaden our understanding of the world and our place within the 天人地 _tian ren di _framework.

A Study of Enhancing University Students' Information Literacy and Global Communicative Competence

This paper describes a 12-month study investigating the feasibility of designing a cooperative learning project which provided opportunities to embed the concepts of information literacy and global communication into the university curriculum. Bridging two courses from different disciplines, the learning project under study was a platform for both postgraduate students and undergraduate students to exchange research ideas and share cultural information. Data included mainly course materials, student presentations, interviews, and a questionnaire survey. Analysis of the data shows that the learning project was innovative and effective in enhancing students’ information literacy and global communicative competence. Moreover, a tendency was identified in the students’ project presentations, i.e., the integration of the Chinese view of harmony and the international view of unity.

The Nude, Essence and Desire: Revisiting Chinese and Western Views of the Nude with François Jullien and Giorgio Agamben

François Jullien believes that the pillar of Western nude art is the philosophical concepts of essence and ideal, while the benti (the Chinese counterpart of ontology) view of Chinese philosophy emphasizes change and process; therefore, it is impossible for Chinese painting to see the nude as essence. Jullien excludes works such as Chungong paintings (Chinese Spring Palace paintings) from the category of nude art because he holds that they depict nakedness, namely the process from “being dressed” to “being naked,” rather than the nude, the natural state of being naked. However, Giorgio Agamben draws on the Christian view of the nude to point out that the nude is always relative to revelation–what exists only is the state of nakedness, while the nude never exists. Nakedness is attached to “undressing,” which is endless because desire is endless. Noticeably, Agamben introduces the dimension of desire into the discussion of nude art, which has successfully created a comparative ground for Chinese and Western nude art. The sexual relationships depicted in Chungong paintings embody the Chinese view of the body and the universe, sharing a similar view in the theme of desire as in Western paintings. Thus, with the inclusion of desire, works such as Chungong paintings shall also be considered in transcultural reflections on artistic traditions between East and West.

System trybutarny i jego dziedzictwo we współczesnej dyplomacji Chińskiej Republiki Ludowej

The tributary system and its legacy in contemporary Chinese diplomacy The article is devoted to the issue of the classical Chinese view of diplomacy. Their consequence was the creation of the tributary system. The tributary system was developed during the Ming dynasty. The legacy of the tributary system influences China’s foreign policy today. The article is divided into two parts. In the first part, the author discusses the functioning of the tribute system. It describes the stages of its formation and the imperial institutions responsible for the empire’s foreign policy. In the second part, the author analyzes the influence of old traditions on the foreign policy of the PRC after 1978. He describes the issue of Sinocentrism that still influences the Chinese view of the world. The author described China’s influence in selected Asian countries. It also talks about the most important Chinese initiatives in the international arena.

Things, order, and the resurgence of contingency: Xiong Bolong 熊伯龍 (1617–1670) and his Wuhe ji 無何集

ABSTRACT In the traditional Chinese conception, ‘things’ (wu 物) serve as the fundamental ‘components’ of order. Moreover, it is through things and their changes that humans can grasp moral and political norms based on the notion of resonance (ganying 感應). This implies that human society and the world of things are necessarily interconnected. In opposition to this view of order Xiong Bolong 熊伯龍 (1617–1670) in his work Wuhe ji 無何集 (Collected Passages on Being without Causes) critiqued the notion of resonance and arrived at a more ‘disenchanted’ approach to ‘things’ by incorporating the idea of contingency from Wang Chong’s 王充 (27–c. 97) philosophical thought. However, Xiong’s view of order full of contingency does not entirely diverge from the traditional mainstream Chinese view, because in his world of thought, a belief in the underlying necessity of a perfect order within the holistic arrangement of myriad things including humans remained.

The Chinese View on Time – A Reflection on The Concept of Time in Dao/Yijing And Modern Science

This paper investigates the intricate relationship between consciousness, time, and free will action by human agents intermediated between the construct of Heaven and Earth. By conducting a comprehensive literature review across different disciplines, such as Chinese philosophy, and reflecting on time and related ideas in _Yijing_, the time perspective in the arrow of time in modern science, insights into the nature of time and its implications can be gained. While the second law of thermodynamics supports a one-directional time arrow, microscopic fluctuations complicate this understanding. In addition, cultural and historical factors have influenced our understanding of time, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary inquiry. The research challenges causality principles and introduces a Co-Occurrence Time Model, raising questions about the independence of time from an observer. The study emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive approach to understanding human experience and calls for further investigation into these concepts. The paper underscores the need to explore the multifaceted aspects of time, consciousness, and free will to broaden our understanding of the world and our place within the 天人地 _tian ren di _framework.

Chinese View of the World in Global Times Caricatures in 2022: Features of Constructing Images and Meanings

The article examines the main features of the presentation of the position of the Chinese government on a wide range of issues on the world stage, as well as the specifics of constructing a positive image of the country for the world community in visual materials of the English-language Chinese newspaper Global Times in September-December 2022 (at example of cartoons in the Cartoon section on the publication’s website). The graphic images included in the final sample (101 drawings in total) can be divided into two groups: those dedicated to international issues and those revealing the features of life in modern China. Much attention is paid to the study of the thematic focus of publications and the geography of the event series, the features of their visualization, as well as the analysis of the lexical originality of title complexes, the semantic content of which directly affects the nature of the representation of a figure/event/phenomenon in the media space and their perception by the wider public. mass audience all over the world. One of the emphasis is placed on examining the characteristics of the representation of different countries and regions of the world. The authors concluded that the main object of criticism of the publication is the United States, its hegemony on the world stage and failures in domestic politics. At the same time, the EU countries act as the injured party as a result of US actions in the geopolitical arena. In turn, materials about Chinese life are presented through the prism of a positive, balanced narrative, demonstrating the advantages and features of the Chinese way of life, constructing an image of a harmoniously developing, attractive society.

동양의 시간관

According to the ancient Chinese texts, time can be understood in a corre-lational relationship with the space in which the aspect of existence takes place. In this respect, time is both static and dynamic, quantitative and qualitative. Ultimately, ‘the universe’ is the time and space in which the Tao operates. For Chinese philosophers who conducted philosophical thinking under the philosophical premise of the inverse that what exists changes, the concept of time was never a transcendental standard that could be equally applied to all objects quantitatively. Rather, the meaning of performative temporality was highlighted while the context of life was emphasized. The tradition of measuring time was also for the recognition of the change of heaven and earth and for moral practice accordingly. Therefore, this paper deals with China's unique view of time from a performative, metaphysical, ritual, and astronomical point of view in relation to time measurement, focusing on ancient literature, and finally, the ancient Chinese view of time deals with the significance of the Calendar/Music related to the harmony of time and space.

The Chinese View of the Rights of the Child

Abstract This article aims to identify the nature of the interpretation of children’s rights in China. More specifically, it seeks to increase the understanding of the characteristics of the national perspective on children’s rights by examining and analysing the key issues relevant to the Chinese legislation. Using the concept of legal culture, the article offers a hermeneutic analysis of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Minors, in which the Chinese view of the rights of the child is explained in the light of a cultural background. The analysis shows that the Chinese view of the rights of the child is culturally coloured. In particular, the influence of the Confucian conception of family and the corresponding paternalistic social theory can be identified.

How do Japanese and Chinese view each other? Understanding the meaning of low‐context culture in intercultural communication

AbstractAlthough Easterners are assumed to have a high‐context culture, Yamashina found that Japanese believe the Chinese to engage in a low‐context cultural communication style. We interpreted her results as follows: the Chinese whom Japanese know are likely to engage in intercultural communication that is used in low‐context cultural situations (code‐switching). To test this interpretation, we used a 17‐item online questionnaire on context dependency for participants (Japanese university students, Chinese university students, and Chinese international students living and studying in Japan) to score the self, average Japanese, and average Chinese. Hence, the design was 3 (culture) by 3 (object). The results showed that both Japanese and Chinese students rated people in their counterpart countries as having a low‐context communication style, supporting our interpretation. However, this effect was not evident among Chinese international students. These results confirmed that low‐context cultural situations may arise when people engage in intercultural communication.

Food and Medicine: Qualities and Efficacies in Chinese Ethnic Medicines

Drawing on our research in China’s southern mountains about ethnic medicines, and intrigued by the proverbial Chinese view that Yao Shi Tong Yuan (food and medicine have the same source), this article traces the eventfulness and powers at play in healing and eating when they are seen as closely related forms of life. Ancient and modern traditional Chinese medicine understandings of flavor are here shown to be a common basis for the healing and harming powers of both food and medicine. The term Wu Wei, or five flavors is explored as both experiences of eating and cooking, and some patterns of qi movement that animate and invigorate the body. Following Vivienne Lo’s term “potent flavors,” practices of harmonizing (He, Tiao He) flavors in Chinese medicine, as in cooking, express a world of natural powers and expert embodiment that goes far beyond mere taste.

Unpacking “the West”: Divergence and Asymmetry in Chinese Public Attitudes Towards Europe and the United States

Recent public opinion polls conducted in Europe and the United States show increasingly negative views of China. Does the Chinese public hold similar views of “the West”? Conducting a two-wave survey in China, we found great divergence and asymmetries in Chinese public perceptions. First, Chinese views of European countries and the US diverge sharply, despite these countries being typically grouped together as “the West” in mainstream English and Chinese discourses; the Chinese viewed the US much more negatively than Europe. Second, whereas the Chinese reciprocated American antipathy, there was an asymmetry in public perceptions between China and Europe, with the Chinese expressing much greater favourability towards European countries than the other way around, though the degree of favourability still varied by country. Analyses of respondent attributes also yielded insights that both confirm and challenge some of the conventional wisdom regarding age, education, and party membership in Chinese public opinion.

The Chinese View on Time – A Reflection on the Concept of Time in Dao/Yijing and Modern Science

The Chinese View on Time – A Reflection on the Concept of Time in Dao/Yijing and Modern Science

Modern Perspectives on Children's Education and Implications for Children's Education in China

On the basis of a review of modern Chinese and Western ideas on children's education, this article summarizes the views of Chinese and Western educators and argues that "child-centredness" is the core of contemporary ideas on children's education. It also considers the current situation of early childhood education in China and draws inspiration for the development of early childhood education in China.

Chinaʼs diplomacy and diaspora perceptions: Evidence from the Pacific region

AbstractChinese diplomacy has been proactive under Xi Jinping and overseas Chinese are an important target. A better understanding of how overseas Chinese perceive Chinese diplomacy can increase our knowledge, but it is under‐studied in the literature. To fill part of this gap, this research focuses on the Pacific region where Chinaʼs activities have triggered growing geostrategic competition between traditional powers and China. Based on a survey of 182 ordinary overseas Chinese in Fiji and Tonga, this paper examines Chinese diasporaʼs perceptions of three aspects that are related to Chinaʼs diplomacy, including the Belt and Road Initiative, China‐Pacific bilateral relations, and old‐new Chinese issues. The survey reveals nuances in ordinary overseas Chinese views about Chinaʼs diplomacy, especially the concerns and apathy among some of them. It suggests that ordinary overseas Chinese support for Chinaʼs diplomacy is unlikely to grow substantially unless their views about this diplomacy become more positive.